The widely held belief is that this area, didn't have much of a past, or any prospects, until the Cleveland Foundation and The Cleveland Clinic, came along. The signs bring back the much more complex story of a highly successful local entrepreneur and a decades long fight to save his property.

Winston Earl Willis (b. October 21, 1939) is a formerly successful American real estate developer who first came to local prominence in Cleveland, Ohio during the early 1960s. At the time, one of the most successful business owner/operators in the country, he created and controlled a corporation, University Circle Properties Development, Inc. (UCPD, Inc.) that owned one of the most strategic and valuable real estate parcels in Cleveland and was the largest employer of blacks in that part of the country. Under his solely-owned UCPD corporation at East 105th and Euclid, upwards of 23 successful businesses were running simultaneously and exhibiting tremendous success.

Winston was quick to see the opportunity to create businesses in the area near University Circle.

The acquired experience of having operated several successful small businesses led to a quick assessment of the local college community that would prove to have been very shrewd. After securing a lease on a building that was previously an automobile dealership showroom, 19-year-old Willis opened The Jazz Temple, a liquor-less coffeehouse/night club, to immediate success. Situated on a small triangular lot on Mayfield Road near Euclid Avenue and adjacent to the Western Reserve University campus, his institutional neighbors were the Cleveland Museum of Art, University Hospital, and Severance Hall, home of the Cleveland Orchestra. The club also bordered the ethnic enclave known as Murray Hill/Little Italy.

Willis approached such legendary jazz artists as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Dizzie Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, Cannonball Adderley, The Ramsey Lewis Trio, and Dinah Washington and convinced them to come to Cleveland to appear at his club. Not only did they appear and perform before standing-room-only crowds, but such notable acts at the trendy establishment also attracted visits from Malcolm X, and Stokely Carmichael, and booked performances from other notables such as comedians Red Foxx, Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor and Dick Gregory. The popular night spot, frequently referred to as “the Jazz Mecca”, was hugely successful and became a regular hang-out for college students from throughout and around the State of Ohio. But that success was short lived. As is typical of jazz establishments – there was much race-mixing and numerous interracial couples in attendance. This triggered community wide resentment in the racially polarized community, and after months of threats and intimidation, a vanguard of vengeful racists planted a bomb in the club, thereby ending the brief history of one of the most successful jazz spots of the region.

So anyway, as you might guess, the major power players like the universities, foundations and The Cleveland Clinic conspired to take his properties away.

Having found no support in the courts from a campaign of fines and other harassment. Winston turned desperately to putting up billboards.

I like the way, this project subtly brings up this injustice without being just angry and bombastic. It's a tribute to the man.

Over at my literary blog, Karen the Small Press Librarian, I am posting year-end Best of the Small Press lists (as I have for the past few years) from small press authors, editors, reading series hosts, and other indie lit movers and shakers. This year I did something different and chose participants from the many small press folks who visited or read in Pittsburgh in 2011. This gives me a chance to highlight the Pittsburgh literary scene along the way (on my normally-not-Pittsburgh-focused small press blog).

I am sometimes surprised by how little is known (outside of the literary scene) about Pittsburgh readings. I get the impression that some people think the sum total of Pittsburgh's literature is a number of colleges bringing in national writers, and maybe a few local poets scribbling things in isolation, plus Michael Chabon. But the city has a flourishing, supportive scene of small presses, reading series, literary magazines, bookstores, homegrown poets, transplanted writers, and visiting authors, unconnected to/in addition to the universities.

So check out the December posts at my blog to see just a small fraction of what went on in Pittsburgh letters in 2011. I may extend a few days into January, too, so check back if it interests you.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

"Over at WNYC, Carolina Miranda takes issue with my naming of ArtPrize as one of the year’s best exhibitions. Frankly, I’m surprised it took this long for someone to say something. The contest doesn’t exactly meet the standard criteria us Chelsea folk use to evaluate art; experts (and collectors) do not determine the worth of a work but two rounds of public voting will. You can imagine the quality of these results. Plus, ArtPrize promotion is the hokiest of hokey. Using a formula that exalts the power of democracy by invoking both American-Idol and Internet 2.0 euphoria, the “radically open” contest rhetoric couldn’t be more grating."

Follow the talk on twitter by looking for the #Artprize hashtag. Likely that more than 80% of the commenters, including myself have never experienced the event.

I love those unanticipated hours, where you aren't committed to being somewhere or doing something. Last week, I happened to have one of those little schedule gaps while I was downtown. Putting the time to good use, I swung by 709 Penn Gallery, and I'm so glad that I did.

I very much admire Tom Norulak's work, and his solo, Detritus, provides an overview of his etchings over the last several years. The images are predominantly of industrial and consumer waste, abandoned and overtaken by nature. Not just the softly decayed and greyed flotsam of paper wrappers, though. This series concentrates on larger pieces of waste, like old tires and abandoned oil rigs, and sawblades.

Without exception, the images are in black and white. While the works are grounded in objective imagery, the prints have abstract qualities that show a sense of exploration beyond the immediate. The lighter textures seem gritty and grainy, but on closer examination have an almost crystalline structure. The very deep blacks seem to come away from the surface, or in some instances appear calligraphic. The prints bear up to close examination, providing a complex experience of subject and aesthetics.

I think you can bring your own thoughts to this exhibit; Mr. Norulak has provided the viewer with the information to draw their own conclusions without the condescension of an arts-based "teaching moment" and without brazenly dictating an agenda.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

The holidays can be a strange bittersweet time in cities in which so many have left.In both Cleveland and Pittsburgh,the diaspora swells The Warhol,Carnegie and Cleveland Museum after Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Recently, cities like Cleveland and Youngstown have made efforts to reach out, make connections and counter some of the negative opinions many who left may have had. Not an easy task, in a few short free days, most people are spending with their family.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Sometimes, I think all the posts I do about urbanism and design are a boring distraction on a blog originally started to cover the exciting cultural scene in Pittsburgh. But I'm constantly reminded how important they can be.

You may have been really excited to hear about plans to create a small bookstore/cultural center a few steps away from The Mattress Factory.

After years of complaints from residents about criminal behavior surrounding the bar, the Manteca closed voluntarily in April 2008 under threat of action by the Allegheny County district attorney a month after two patrons were shot, one fatally, upon leaving the bar.

At the time, Mr. Reese had an option to buy the bar as one of three adjacent parcels he wanted for an expansion of City of Asylum's presence and mission.

As Literary Ventures LLC, he bought a house two addresses from the bar in 2006. In October 2008, he bought the vacant lot beside it and the Manteca beside the lot. The two buildings will be razed to accommodate a nearly 4,000-square-foot building with an interior, glassed-in courtyard. The center will house a bookstore, a cafe, a public gathering space for readings, performances and other events, and two upstairs apartments.

What's not to love? A dangerous, poorly kept up bar and small empty lot in a still struggling but improving part the city is replaced by a small cultural center, run by a respected non profit. People can come and listen to poetry and music, thumb through a diverse selection of books, perhaps attend a workshop or class?

Thankfully, in this case of a popular project, in a very historic and walkable part of the city-an adjustment to these rules was made-after a study showing peak use would be unlikely to cause problems.

You have to wonder how zoning codes like this effect the rest of the city since the easy, default option is always to make more space for cars and less for people.

I still can never get, why this single show, in a moderately sized NY museum is still considered the standard survey of the new, cutting edge and important in what is now such a vast interconnected world.

"The Whitney Biennial is an exhibition held every two years in which the Museum gauges the current state of contemporary art in America." Fat chance. At best it' gives some insight into what the small clique of curators feel is hot.

As usual, a few like Robert Gober, Mike Kelly and Nicole Eisenman are very established artists. The general flavor from what I have read and the few names, I recognize is a strong tilt towards work that blurs categories-lots of performance, film (Werner Herzog), photography, protest, etc...

LaToya Ruby Frazier, who for the last three years or so has lived in the NY area is on the list. It will be interesting to see what she does.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

I'm not a historic preservation nut-there sometimes are good reasons for radically changing or demolishing historic buildings.

That being said, they just don't make places of dignity and elegance like this Cleveland Landmark every day. Here is a great video I came across about the transformation of the ground floor space into a highly rated restaurant.

The 9-story, 1.5 million dollar United Bank Building opened in 1925 as the tallest and largest commercial building on Cleveland's west side. It was one of the last of a series of classical bank buildings constructed in Cleveland during the 1910s and 1920s, a golden age for the city's banking industry. The selection of Cleveland in 1914 as one of twelve cities to house a branch of the new Federal Reserve Bank helped fuel this growth, as did the city's emergence as a major industrial center around the turn of the 20th-century. Many of the city's banks, however, did not make it through the stock market crash of October 1929 and the subsequent Great Depression. The United Banking & Trust Company, founded on Cleveland's west side in the 1880s, was a victim of the crash, and it merged with Central National Bank just a month afterwards in November 1929

Crop is on Lorain Ave in Ohio City, a few steps away from the landmark, West Side Market.

Many cities in this trailer, I'm sure. But there are a lot of scenes of Pittsburgh. Fortunately, the atmosphere here in the Burgh isn't usually so dark and ominous. Unless, for example, the Steelers had a twenty point loss the night before and it is dark and rainy (like this past Tuesday).Like so many others, I enjoyed seeing the movie being filmed here!!!! And I am looking forward to seeing it. For the trailer, go here

"I like that Justin focuses on quality-of-life amenities that are important to the young professional crowd. The stuff that makes Cleveland neighborhoods livable, this book emphasizes, are walkability, transit access, cultural amenities, recreational opportunities (like yoga studios), and even (and I really like this one) diversity.

In my view Justin’s appraisal of city neighborhoods is much more honest and thoughtful that the usual appraisals we get in Cleveland, e.g. Cleveland Magazine’s “rating the suburbs” which encourages readers to adopt lifestyle choices that are liable to have their spending all their free time sitting on the driver’s seat of a car or on the couch (while “saving” a few precious dollars on taxes)."

While ice-skating is quintessential wintery fun, it also represents a movement by city leaders toward creating public spaces that are active, engaging destinations even in the coldest months.

Dana Souza, parks and recreation director for the city of Greenville, said Ice on Main, a 3,200 square foot rink surrounded by a hotel, city hall, offices and restaurants, is indicative of the city’s values."

Friday, December 16, 2011

"Maybe it’s because we’re all attached to our region’s rural past, so imprinted are we with our grandparents stories, we can’t stop thinking or writing about it. Or, the issues that dominate conversation happen to be in our rural quarters, like mining, mountain top removal and ameliorating poverty."

A deeply flawed mythology, since Appalachia is increasingly an urban place, impacted by the role of cities in and around it.

"Almost 60 percent of the region’s 24.8 million people live in urbanized areas, and if current demographic trends hold, that number will increase. The feds define Appalachia as a 205,000-square-mile region that follows the spine of the Appalachian Mountains from southern New York to northern Mississippi. Within that span, there are larger cities with more than a 100,000 people, like Birmingham, Huntsville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Asheville and Pittsburgh. And, there are dozens of medium-size cities like Greenville, S.C., Charleston, W.V., and Scranton, Pa."

Surprise, but a careful look shows that the emerging, giant of Atlanta, is at the edge of the region.

Even more surprising at least to those who carry the old stereotypes, is how popular and successful many cities like Chattanooga, Asheville and now Pittsburgh have started to become.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

I gotta admit to not knowing many details about this but I have a few thoughts, both positive and negative.

The solution is The Discovering Home Program, which is a joint effort by the Cuyahoga Land Bank and the International Services Center.

Together, they want to turn neighborhoods around by offering struggling immigrants housing. The refugees will have to agree to fix them up. The hope is that families will take great pride in their homes and help stabilize neighborhoods. Many believe it is a win-win situation

.

Right off the bat, I'm impressed by any efforts in the Cleveland area to not just obsess over everyone leaving, but attract new residents. Any thinking in that direction is a big plus.

I also, see that ownership is to be gained by fixing up the homes. Here, I have some pretty strong doubts. If no cash investment of any kind is made, one is likely to repeat the same kind of easy come-easy go buyers with no equity that helped create the housing mess. Remember that in many cases, you will be asking people to move into shaky and damaged communities in a region with abundant low cost housing.

I have doubts that incentives like this will draw people who find the homes and neighborhoods of real value since price alone is the main draw.

Contrast that, for example with efforts to attract artists who see the benefits of living in a place with lots of other creatives.

That being said, many larger immigrant families would fit well with single family housing stock.

"They welcomed us, in some cases fed us, and occasionally even agreed to play small roles in the film. They gave us all their support and then some. In this way they became the first people to not only approve but endorse what we were attempting to do.

"It was as if, in accepting us, they were willing to accept the far-fetched idea that a film made by what could only be called 'amateurs' might just possibly have a chance at success. The people of Evans City in effect 'teamed up' with us, subscribed to our hopes and dreams as if they were their own.

"The film, 'Night of the Living Dead,' was, as its title suggests, a horror film, which further prejudiced its chance at any sort of lasting attention, but the people of Evans City knew nothing about box-office shares or audience-response polls.

"We believed, so they believed. And, in a hundred ways, they enabled us to complete the film."

A long article. Apparently, Romero had tried to contact the people behind the efforts and after some bounced emails, had to send..a letter.

Friday, December 09, 2011

Michigan's ArtPrize is an event that right off the bat combined creative placemaking, art, economic development and public interaction in ways that excited me.

Likewise, in spite of it's success,(and the fact it's not in NY or LA) the art establishment has mostly ignored or tried to look down on it. "Oh My God, they really voted a non ironic religious piece the top award!"

For better or worse, Artprize is tipping the scale away from public voting and more towards "expert jurors".

The top public vote award will be a little smaller next year, $200,000 instead of the $250,000 offered this year, but the organization is adding a brand new juried award of $100,000, which puts it in the same monetary league at the Hugo Boss Prize (also $100,000) and considerably more than the Turner Prize with its £25,000 award (roughly $39,000).

Some facts about ArtPrize 2011:

-1,582 artists from 39 countries and 43 US states took part

-The participating artists installed their work at 164 venues in a three-square-mile district in Grand Rapids

-38,000 registered voters submitted 383,000 total votes for the public prize

Thursday, December 08, 2011

Obviously the trend is stronger in the greater NY region, but a lot of talk at International Council of Shopping Centers conference in Manhattan seemed to be about adpting retail better to transit and denser urban design. Speakers included reps from Burlington Coat Factory, Sports Authority, BJ's Wholesale Club and a number of major real estate developers.

As retailers continue to weave suburban concepts into the urban fabric, more brands—and big-boxes—are going vertical. But as the pendulum swings in favor of transit-oriented development, the nation’s top retailers agreed that the need for mass transportation is beginning to outweigh the need for traditional parking design, according to speakers during day two of the International Council of Shopping Centers’ 2011 New York National Conference & Deal Making event. The convention closed out at the Sheraton New York and Hilton New York Hotels on Tuesday afternoon, where total attendance exceeded 6,000 each day.

During the general session, much of the discussion revolved around the challenges retailers face, running the gamut from site selection, obtaining local approvals, expansion concerns and store formats. The panelists also addressed the paradigm shift of retailers like wholesale clubs and supermarkets—two concepts borne out of the suburbs—that are finding equal strength in cities, especially near subway and bus lines.

It's a bit strange that the awesome online art magazine, Hyperallergic only reviewed this one part of the multi venue Biennial. However, in some ways it's not that surprising since this show of artist collectives and collaborative projects might have the greatest relevance outside of Pittsburgh.

"The exhibition at Miller Gallery, curated by gallery director Astria Suparak, features five artist-teams, all with some connection to Pittsburgh. Although the Biennial’s publicity describes the show as an exploration of the art of collaboration, I found concern about space, place and the planet to be another significant thread weaving the works together.

Each collaborative asks the viewer to re-picture the interconnections that make up our experience of the world — to borrow Smith’s terminology. For Smith, this impulse involves the representation of cultural and economic networks on a global scale. The artists at Miller Gallery, however, focus on a wider range of intertwining relationships, spanning not only the global but also ecological, local, urban, public and domestic spaces."

L Magazine has a good post about urban diaspora networks, which not surprisingly involves groups from all the major cities in the Rust Belt like Detroit, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh. Most of the usual blogging suspects are quoted, like Aaron Renn (Urbanophile) and Jim Russell (Burgh Diaspora)

Amazingly, active interest in building and exploiting these extended networks is very recent.

My personal views are somewhat mixed in that all levels of engagement need to be fostered, not just with people who left but with all kinds of other people.

It seems like most Rust Belt cities are in a learning curve, moving from Border Guard Bob type efforts to get everyone to stay, to reluctant efforts to get people to comeback to their hometown.

The best ones, acknowledge the natural movement of people while keeping them in touch and involved.

Jacobs acknowledges that networking opportunities and tangible engagement, not just economic redevelopment prospects, should be an important focus for diaspora groups. For people who hope to one day return to their hometowns, social networking is essential in order to replace lost groups of hometown friends who have also left the area. Detroit Nation often organizes road trips back to Detroit where members can socialize with each other, in addition to connecting with Detroit business leaders and experience innovation initiatives first hand.

Detroit Nation isn't the only expat group whose members currently call New York City home. Manhattanite Frits Abell founded the Buffalo Expat Network at the beginning of 2010, after 20 years in NYC. Buffalo Expat Network started out as a Facebook group but has since become an active expat network, connecting former Buffalo residents from all over the world in order to harness talent for Buffalo-based initiatives. Unlike Detroit Nation, Buffalo Expat Network engages their membership more through online communities, although in-person events have been held in New York City. "At the beginning of this year, we decided to focus much more on projects, so we have different expats leading different projects," he says.

IMHO, there needs to be a much broader interest in information and people flow all around. People in Ann Arbor should know Detroit better; folks in Columbus should know Pittsburgh and Cleveland and Indianapolis. It's like looking at a menu and just knowing what's available.

The article does point out that New York City itself benefits from a vast diaspora network.

Monday, December 05, 2011

The theme for Unblurred in December is large group shows; it seemed like the larger venues on Penn were all doing some variation of this. It was interesting to see the different takes on that idea, and it made for a very active evening. I am sure I missed as much as I got to during December's Unblurred.

Winter in Frames at ModernFormations

A fun exhibit of small format works, Winter in Frames invited artists to submit works for public voting. The top three voted artists get a group exhibit. While the gallery typically follows a monthly show rotation, Winter in Frames will remain in place through January 14, when the winners will be announced. If you missed the exhibit opening on December 2, you can always swing by during regular gallery hours, or for first Friday (January 6).

There are several images from the exhibit in the slideshow. And no, I'm not going to say who I voted for. I will say that it was a nice balance of work. Survey shows like this, with no stated theme and no over-arching juror, can be difficult to present. ModernFormation's Director, Jennifer Quinio Hedges, did a phenomenal job with organizing the installation.

A special off-the-wall presentation of local artists work, Lascaux to Garfield was a very short exhibit. There were many familiar names, and the exhibit was a joint venture between the Irma Freeman Center and The Puppet Happening.

There were several pieces that stood out for me. Renee Ickes, whose work is pictured above, creates some very cheeky pierced and cut paper pieces. Laurie Trok, who does very intricately layered paper-cut collages, had a couple small pieces in the show. More of her work is available for viewing at her solo show at Morris Levy Gallery, opening December 10.

Puppet Happening is a venture of Tom Sarver's, who has been producing puppet shows in Pittsburgh for years. He had a mini-festival at the Irma Freeman Center over the weekend, and will be doing more in the future.

Notes of interestAssemble went hyper local for its December exhibit, with an open call to artists living within ten blocks of the space. Lots of fun stuff, images in the slideshow.

The CottonFactory had their last Tee Rex event of the year. They won't be opening for first Fridays again until March 2012. Note to my artist friends: The CottonFactory has guest vendors for their Tee Rex events. Contact ink[at]cottonfactory.com for details. 5440 Penn Ave.

Jes LaVecchia has her work at the Mr. Roboto Project. These sweetly-colored, illustrative works are very fun, especially on these dreary winter days. Mr. Roboto is open for several special events in December when you can view the exhibit.

"In several cases, Ms. Rosales sold the works through an art-world luminary, Ann Freedman, until 2009 the president of the prestigious gallery Knoedler & Company on the Upper East Side. Other works were sold by Julian Weissman, an independent dealer who had worked for Knoedler in the 1980s and had represented Motherwell when he was alive.

Ms. Freedman and Mr. Weissman said through their lawyers that they continued to believe that the works they sold were authentic and that authorities had told them they were not under investigation. But a lawyer for Ms. Rosales, Anastasios Sarikas, acknowledged that she was a target of the inquiry by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Mr. Sarikas said that his client had “never intentionally or knowingly sold artwork she knew to be forged.”

A few years back, it was discovered that the highly respected founding director of the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art had played an active role in misrepresenting the provenance of a large group of Warhol Brillo Boxes.

Thursday, December 01, 2011

"For a prominent university, Penn State is remarkably isolated, nestled in the hinterlands of Pennsylvania, six hours from the nearest conference rival and three hours from a major city. (As many learned last week, the impenetrability is heightened by a status that exempts PSU from meaningful state open-records laws. Many documents related to the Sandusky case, such as e-mails between university officials, are not subject to public disclosure.) Like Russian nesting dolls, there are levels of isolation within Penn State, the innermost of which is the football team, which has separate facilities from the rest of the athletic programs and a lavish training facility all its own."

Healing will be far less swift an hour down the Nittany Valley in State College. While the crisis was unprecedented in its severity, the Penn State management was -- again, evidence of the school's insularity -- staggeringly clumsy. Press conferences were scheduled and then abruptly canceled. Remarks were tone-deaf. Spanier all but ordered his own firing when he declared his "unconditional" support for Curley and Schultz. When various administrators expressed shock at last week's revelations, even though Sandusky had been suspected multiple times and The Patriot-News had reported in March on the grand jury investigation, it came across as more than a little disingenuous.

"The idyllic physical setting and the familial spirit of Penn State cut another way: It is a deeply insular place with concentrated power. Every character in the tragedy seemed to be a longtime Penn Stater. Paterno was there 61 years; Sandusky's association with the school began in 1963; Curley grew up in State College and has served 18 years as AD; vice president Gary Schultz served the school for 40 years; Mike McQueary grew up in State College and has been on staff for 11 years; Bradley has been on staff for 33 years; Jay Paterno, Joe's son, has been on staff for 17 years; Spanier taught at Penn State as far back as 1973. Sandusky, Bradley, Curley, Schultz, McQueary and Jay Paterno all attended Penn State as undergraduates. That people returned to or stayed so long at Penn State spoke to its appeal and its small-town values."

Another article, quotes former sportscaster and writer Myron Cope, who made this comment about Penn State in his biography.

"I particularly irritated Penn Staters by accusing Joe [Paterno] of excessive piety. You see, for many years he seemed bent upon casting Penn State as an academic facsimile of Harvard and his football players as model citizens (when in fact some of them told me they received the benefits of rural isolation—no major newspaper there to snoop—and a friendly police force)".

Tragically, another legendary coach and sports program is implicated in a very similar situation and cover up in Syracuse. While Syracuse, was once a fairly major manufacturing center, it now seems as if the university is the major force in town.

The earthshaking scandals of 1951, which eventually reached to seven schools and 32 players around the country, actually erupted on Jan. 17, 1951 when Henry Poppe and Jack Byrnes of the previous year's Manhattan team plus three fixers: Cornelious Kelleher and brothers Benjamin and Irving Schwartzberg, who were bookmakers and convicted felons, were booked on bribery and conspiracy charges. All were in violation of section 382 of the penal code, the bill passed by the New York State legislature in 1945, which established as illegal an attempt to bribe a participant in any sporting event, amateur or professional. Poppe and Byrnes actually "had done business" with Kelleher in the 1949-50 season and received $50 a week during the off season of that year plus $3,000 to insure Manhattan lost games by the point margin to Siena, Santa Clara and Bradley in Madison Square Garden.

Byrnes and Poppe also received an additional $2,000 each to go over the point margin in games with St. Francis College of Brooklyn and New York University.

Ever even heard of this- corruption case involving masses of players and fixed games? One reason it's forgotten is that college basketball at the time was far from the big time sport of today. The other reason is it centered around colleges in NYC, where life did not revolve around these schools.

All of the CCNY schools de-emphasised sports and dropped into division III. Life went on. Could something like that even be considered in a place like State College?

Without, going into too much detail, I do think that there's something very unhealthy about major universities being so far removed from the world and I do think this was a major factor in both instances.

Penn State cannot shrink and or cut off it's major sports programs because there just isn't much else to do in State College. Incredibly, many students who were not athletes named it as the main reason for attending the school. Not surprisingly this put the program beyond critical review.

As online coverage of local history and culture has gotten better, I feel a greater obligation to keep one connected to a wider region. Cincinnati isn't exactly close, but it's not that far. Also, Pittsburgh's position in the Civil War's border region makes this show seem relevant.

"The museum is well-positioned not only intellectually but physically to tell this complicated story, and it does it well. For the museum sits on the north shore of the Ohio River, the dividing line set forth by the Northwest Ordinance in 1787, which attempted to balance the entry of free and slave-holding states into the union. It was on this border separating Ohio from Indiana and Kentucky that the racial politics and policies of early America met reality.

The main theme of "Liberty's Trials" is Kentucky's efforts to remain neutral during the war. It is often thought of as a Southern state, but slavery was not widespread there. Lexington was an important slave-trading market because of the nearby horse farms and plantations. But much of the rest of Kentucky was against slavery and strongly pro-Union at the start of the war. We see this through maps, biographies and plaques retelling some of the key events that pushed Kentucky from a largely pro-union state at the start of the Civil War to one that was mostly pro-Confederacy toward the end of the war."